An affair with Ponniyin Selvan

As a girl who grew up in Chennai with family that has a strong sense of pride in Tamil literature and the language itself, I grew up hearing the names Ponniyin Selvan, Udaiyaar, Parthiban Kanavu etc. quite regularly. Looking at the illustrations of these books had always piqued my interest as a kid even as I immersed myself in Enid Blyton, R.L. Stine, J.K. Rowling and the who-is-who of English literature, as a voracious reader. As I grew, my interest in the novel only kept growing and I remember shedding a few tears of frustration at a book fair when my dad refused to get me the English translation of the books (not even as a birthday present!) and insisted that I try reading them in Tamil. Fast-forward a couple of years, I finally decided to get my hands on Ponniyin Selvan, in its pristine Tamil form. I managed to get through half of the first book "Pudhu Vellam" (Fresh Floods) at a very sluggish pace. For someone who could read around 500 pages of a decently sized English novel (Amish, Sidney Sheldon, Dan Brown) in a day, this was hard to take. So, I finally ended up reading C.V. Karthik Narayan's translation of the books (with the original Tamil books in my lap for reference) and it was a pleasure to all 5 senses. In less than 20 days, I had completed the saga and more than acquainted myself with the escapades of Vandiyathevan, enjoying Azhwarkadiyan's quick wit, fuming at the injustice certain characters faced while raptly turning the pages of the book in the midst of a plot being hatched; in-all, falling in love with (most of) the characters, especially being enamoured by Kundavai's intelligence and allure (I often think of her as better than Cleopatra but without the promiscuity) and Manimeghalai's gentle and untainted love for others. While the novel is centred around the male characters, it is really the female characters that lead the narrative and bring life to the story. Be it the plots Nandini hatches to 'help' Madurantakan, or Kundavai's attempt to foil them and keep her brothers in the scene, metaphorically and literally as well, by trying to get them to the Chozha heartland or Poonguzhali's cunning ways to tackle the male warriors and accomplish whatever she set out to do, they drive the story forward.

When Mani Ratnam, the scion of Tamil Cinema decided to finally translate Kalki's novel into celluloid, the dream project of Kollywood, to say I was excited would be an understatement. When I finally went into the theatre after patiently trying to get the tickets for the 30th of September (Day 1 of release) I was almost doing cartwheels with the euphoria of getting to watch the novel on the big screen. As a book lover, one would almost never conclude that the film version of a story is better than the book; that could still not keep me from being excited about the movie or hoping that it would be worth watching. As the music of the movie composed by A.R. Rahman rolled out a few days before the film, my expectations crashed as the songs seemed to fail to strike a chord or capture the magic of the story (exceptions - Alaikadal, Sol). However, for someone who knew the story, it was easy to guess the backdrop in which each of the songs was set. Though unimpressive at first, like one of Dhanush's popular dialogue (“Enna maari pasangala paathaa pidikaadhu, paaka paaka dhaan pidikum”, Guys like me will not be loved at first sight, but you will grow to like me with time), I grew to like the songs after listening to them a couple of times and by the time of the release I was singing all of them by heart and especially liked Alaikadal, as it seemed to encapsulate the book version of Poonguzhali completely. Whatever disappointment the songs initially caused, was made up by watching the trailer which further reinforced my belief that the movie would indeed be worth watching.

Fast forwarding to the big day, one major thing I was happy about was that the songs fit into the movie like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle would, in the right situations and creating good segues into the next track in the storyline. The best case in point for this would be “Chola Chola”. The beauty of Maniratnam's picturization can be seen in this song as he intersperses the flashback with the song and keeps the suspense alive by showing the beheading of Veerapandiyan towards the end of the song after seeing a glimpse of Nandini in the song itself (I am tapping to the beats of the song as I write this). Talking of this scene, when Nandini asks Aditha Karikalan to spare the Pandiyan king's life, for a moment it might seem like he might almost reconsider the request but the second Veerapandiyan utters her name, Adithan loses all sense of reason and rushes to behead him in one clean sweep. One can't help but also tie it back to the first scene when Aditha Karikalan decides to spare the life of the Rashtrakuta king who is also defenceless, which is a reference to Veera Pandiyan.

Not unlike the song, the movie itself is quite fast-paced, unsurprising considering how much ground it has to cover. The initial war scenes do their job in ensuring that the audience's attention is captured and to watch Jayaram as Azhwarkadiyan is refreshing and provides the initial entertainment even as the story (Vandiyathevan's track) heats up. While almost everyone is all praises for the perfect casting of Thirumalai Nambi (the afore-mentioned Azhwarkadiyan), another casting that I personally admired was actor Rahman as Madurantakan. His expressions portraying a prince who is convinced of his right to inherit the kingdom and as someone who is seen as having been wronged is applaudable; he has managed to keep it subtle and yet makes the mark. With regard to finding the perfect fit for Nandini, who can be said to be the most important character in the plot (if only one character is to be picked) Aishwarya Rai must have been a no-brainer for the director. She is perfect for the role in every way and as a Gen Z reader of the novel, I could not envision anyone else pulling off the multi-layered Nandini with such grace and exuding such enigma as Ash. Like Aishwarya Rai, Thrisha too has played her role to perfection, displaying elegance and panache in every scene that warrants the same. Yet, unlike Ash, this is the first time Thrisha is playing a role in a period film as an important historical character and deserves praise for her performance throughout the movie. Their joint face-off scene is enough to convince anyone of the power in their performances as one would only see Kundavai and Nandini on screen and not the actors who played them. This scene also reveals how Kundavai is no less haughty than Nandini. When she has to meet the Pazhuvettarayars and Nandini, Kundavai does not ascend the stairs immediately and instead waits for Nandini to come down to welcome her. Nandini, for all her pride and vanity in being the most beautiful woman, chooses to walk down to Kundavai as her manipulativeness and deception win over pride. This scene perfectly encapsulates the two regal women in their full glory trying to outdo each other.

While most actors fit the bill, there were some who did not fit their characters as well. Coming to Jayam Ravi in the titular role, he manages to bring in the humility and level-headedness of Ponniyin Selvan by keeping it fine-drawn throughout, but personally, it was hard in certain frames to see him playing a royal after seeing him as the uber-cool guy. It is to be noted that this is coming from someone who has seen ‘Santhosh Subramaniam’ and ‘Something Something’ at least a few hundred times, each (and I am not exaggerating). Coming to the on-screen relationship between the main characters who have worked with each other earlier – PS1 did not have any scenes with Thrisha (Kundavai) and Jayam Ravi (brother Arulmozhi Varman) in the same setting and the relation between Thrisha (Kundavai) and Vikram (Aditha Karikalan) did not seem awkward at all considering they have worked together before and were an adorable on-screen couple. Surprisingly, it felt natural to see them as a brother-sister duo. I am sure the same will be the case with Thrisha and Jayam Ravi in PS2 when they would definitely be sharing screen space. However, what was unimaginable was to see Sara Arjun play the younger version of Nandini mainly because of the romantic reminiscing that Vikram (Karikalan) had for Nandini. This was undigestable to watch as Vikram and Sara had acted as father and daughter in ‘Dheiva Thirumagal’ - an unforgettable masterpiece with impactful acting by both of them (where Sara essayed the role of a six-year-old and Vikram, her mentally-challenged dad). It was not easy to watch Vikram describe Nandini (Sara) as his love interest and it is unclear why the director could not have picked a different artist for young Nandini as the role is extremely brief (about a minute) and could have been easily pulled by others. However, speaking of the character individually, Vikram has done a fabulous job as Aditha Karikalan and his screen presence is full of intense scenes, that he has pulled off pretty realistically.

Another hitch I have is with Maniratnam's characterization of Senthan Amudhan - for some reason, the character has lost his genteel-mannered disposition and his easy pleasing nature with which he is introduced in the book, to a more serious role in the movie. The breeziness of his characterization in the book is certainly missing and we may need to wait for Part 2 to see exactly why Maniratnam might have chosen to do this, though one might take an informed guess (not putting it here to avoid spoilers for PS2). While I was hoping Sarathkumar and Parthiban could have interchanged their roles as Periya Pazhuvettarayar and Chinna Pazhuvettarayar respectively, when the initial casting was announced, I found them playing their part convincingly. But for someone (like my Gen X dad) who read the original serialized version of the novel along with the initial illustrations accompanying the text, “it was difficult to see the hefty Parthiban playing the role of the actually wiry and lithe Chinna Pazhuvettarayar”. Likewise, Kanthan Maaran, Vandiyathevan's bosom warrior friend, did not look like it. His character has been sidelined in the movie, however considering the relative impact of the character it is not a big loss. Yet a huge letdown was the missing track of their friendship turning to enmity which is important in their respective characterizations and in the events that follow. The Kandan Maaran-Vandiyathevan-Parthibendran equation is also different from the books. It remains to be seen how the director has tackled this in the next part. While this might be a small yet significant part of the story that has been tweaked, there are other, far bigger changes in the adaptation. One of the most outrageous ones for any fan of the book must be the alteration of Vanathi's character. If the novel Vanathi and the movie Vanathi were to meet, they would be flabbergasted to know that they are actually the same person. Kalki's Vanathi was a gentle girl, almost infirm of the mind and terrified of the smallest things; whereas Maniratnam's Vanathi is a dainty and gala damsel simply waiting for her prince charming. Neither does she start off as the meek, soft-hearted character that she is in the book nor does it look like she has a mentee equation with Kundavai, the way it is in the books. Rather the movie has almost made her an equal who is cheerful and full of gaiety - dancing and gossiping with Kundavai. This aspect was actually disheartening to watch as a novel which was written almost seventy years ago could do away with portraying the female characters as gossip girls and making the female protagonist (and that too a princess with astute political sense) surround herself with other girls for fun and frolic, but a contemporary movie on the same chose to stick to the trope of relegating the heroine to being simply 'girly'.

An important, much-admired instance in the book - the first meeting of Kundavai and Vandiyathevan which happens in the house of an astrologer (a character that is a mainstay throughout the series) is missing in the book, however, this is not entirely unexpected as the Kudandhai astrologer’s character has been completely cast away. I find this much more forgivable than the 'Vanathi tweaking' as the character does not really shape the happenings in the novel and doing away with him may have helped with better creative visualization of their first meeting to make it more picture-perfect atop a ‘cruise’ on the Kaveri and memorable for the audience. Perhaps, an example of "Show, don't tell", but that scene firmly etches the regality and authoritativeness of Kundavai through the way she conducts herself to Vandiyathevan, in the minds of the viewers, not to mention how alluring Thrisha looks as Kundavai. While some happenings in the book do not find a place in the movie, there are also new incidents that the movie brings into which were not originally in the book. Some of these are important for the audience to understand the nuances of a certain character or to add weight to a certain scene. For example, in the movie, Kundavai arrives uninvited to the Sabhai where the chieftains are discussing a way to eliminate the sons of Sundara Chozhar from the competition for the throne when Kundavai goes in and creates a furore by distracting them by asking them to give the daughters of their household in marriage to her brothers, thereby removing their very motive to stop the princes from ascending the throne. Though nothing of the sort has been written by Kalki, it tells the audience of her political astuteness and her influence in the kingdom – rare for a woman, at the time. Likewise, Kundavai going to meet her elder brother, Aditha Karikalan, though not mentioned in the book is helpful in understanding their childhood and relationship with Nandini and gives us a peek into the role of Sembiyan Maadevi in the royal family. Adding these extra scenes to tell the audience such significant tidbits from the book goes a long way in improving the movie. Another difficulty that comes with translating a book into celluloid is that it is possible in a book to go back and forth between the past and present in a book, but doing the same in a movie with such an intricate plot as Ponniyin Selvan would be confusing to say the least. That is why the movie has stayed close to the sequence of things chronologically and yet managed to keep the suspense intact (by omitting some details from the book like …what shall not be mentioned to avoid major spoilers) wherever required. All the same, the director has included a little trivia from the book itself that makes up the finer details in the movie. For instance, I was happy to see that the Kundavai bun has made its way into the movie from the book; considering she was well-versed in the ways of makeup and was the best hairdresser in the Chozha kingdom this is a nice detail to not leave behind. From what I see, Maniratnam has also tried symbolism and allusion in the movie - introducing Poonguzhali when she is emerging from the sea seems to be an allusion to her connection with the sea and how she is her truest self while sailing in the sea. Another cute reference was when Arulmozhi Varman receives the scroll that Vanathi sends over and he notices the elephants decorating it, alluding to their first encounter and romance, which is probably featured in PS2.

On the whole, the movie was undoubtedly worth watching and has definitely left the audience waiting for PS2, which is expected to hit the screens in April 2023. An interesting outcome of the film is that it would have left the viewers with a lot of questions if they do not already know the story and might get more people to hunt for a copy of the books (either the original in Tamil or a translation), or at the very least harass their Ponniyin Selvan literate friends to share the remainder of the story with them, though I am sure there are a couple of people out there with the greatest possible self-control waiting for the movie itself to answer their questions. Perhaps, Part 2 will help us make better sense of the way Part 1 was and help us decode the Maniratnam formula for the series. With the new year right around the corner, I thought this might be a good time to publish this post and help people jog their memories a little and keep in touch with the saga, so that excitement for PS2 is intact.